Discovering Hermione
by Politics.and.Prose
Summary: Ron and Hermione dance before the Weird Sisters arrive at the Yule Ball.


The Yule Ball had barely begun. The introductory dances were over and Dumbledore had given another fine yet confusing speech. Couples were lingering on the dance floor waiting for some kind of music to start. They knew the Weird Sisters were coming, but the weather had delayed their arrival from Hogsmeade.

Ron Weasley stood beside Harry Potter and the Patil twins, Parvati and Padma. He looked sideways at his "date" and sighed. A few days ago he had been thrilled that she wanted to go with him. In all truth, he had been thrilled until the Champions and their dates had arrived. He would have been just fine if Padma hadn't pointed out Hermione walking in on the arm of his hero, Viktor Krum.

He looked across the dance floor and saw her with _him_. He knew, for some reason, he had to get over there and get a dance before she refused to leave her Champion's side. _Harry should be her Champion_, he told himself. _Forget about that and get her to dance with you_, he scolded himself. _But I don't even like dancing._

Ignoring his mind, Ron excused himself from Harry and the girls and made his way across the dance floor towards where Hermione and chatting.

Ron cleared his throat as he approached his hero and one of his best friends. "Mind if I steal a dance?" he asked them.

"Not at all," Viktor said as he gallantly placed Hermione's hand into Ron's outstretched one.

Hermione smiled as Ron moved her onto the dance floor. He took her right hand in his left and placed his right on her tiny waist. He felt the smooth, slick fabric moving under his fingers and almost lost his mind. _What's going on here?_ he asked himself.

"I never expected you to ask me to dance," Hermione smiled as she looked up into Ron's eyes.

"Don't know what made me to it, really," he admitted. "I guess I just reckon Krum won't let you out of his sight for the rest of the night so I should use my chance when I get it," he laughed uncomfortably.

"Have you spoken to Viktor yet? I'm sure he won't mind giving you an autograph."

"He's busy," Ron told her nonchalantly. Truth be told, he'd planned on asking Viktor that night but he suddenly didn't want anything to do with the giant Bulgarian git.

"He really is a nice guy," she told him.

"Right," he said. "Can we talk about something other than Viktor Krum. I mean, I know he's your _date_ and everything, but I reckon it might be nice if we just ... you know ... didn't think about him or talk about him for the two minutes I have left before I hand you back over to him."

"Hand me back over?" Hermione asked. "What do you mean by that?" Her eyes were flashing and Ron knew he had entered the danger zone.

"No. Nothing. I just meant that I have to go back to Padma Patil while you go and dance the night away with Viktor Krum."

"Honestly, Ron. You were saying just the other night that Padma was looking better every day."

"That's because I knew she didn't have a date for this bloody ball."

"Don't swear," she chided.

"Sorry," he muttered in reply.

When the interim music began, Ron's whole world began to change. Someone behind Hermione bumped into her, pressing her closer to his body. She had never been that close before - not even when she threw herself at him after they made up the year before. And even now, things were much different. _She has curves_, he acknowledged. His right hand, of its own accord, began to move slowly along the silky periwinkle material at the small of her back. It indented just the right amount for his rather large hand to fit, well, perfectly. _Bet Krum's hands don't fit like mine_, he thought. _Why do I care how Krum's hands fit? Why do I care how my hands fit?_ He had thoroughly confused himself by this point. All he could think about was her smelling of strawberries and her hair doing something he'd never seen it do before - behave.

"You look nice," he said as he interrupted whatever it was she was saying about whatever it was she was talking about. "I mean, it's not that you don't sometimes or … er … all the time. But it's a different nice now. You look … different?" _Way to stuff it up_, he chided himself.

"Thanks," she said with a slight smile. "I just … it was a chance to show _some people_," she added with a smile, "that I'm really a girl." Ron tried to stutter a response but she silenced him with a small, girlish chuckle. "Honestly, Ron. It's okay. I haven't exactly been very ladylike in our years of friendship, have I?"

Ron thought back to their First Year when she was bossy and nightmare-ish … and more into her studies than even combing her hair into a manageable state. His mind then flashed to their Second Year when she couldn't even manage to turn into a human girl with the polyjuice potion. A soft smile crossed his face before turning into a frown as he thought about watching her lay petrified in the hospital wing that year. His brow then creased when he remembered that she threw herself at Harry but not him when they were reunited. His mind drifted to Third Year and he thought about the more feminine clothing she selected, the more delicate curls that fell over her shoulders in lieu of her normal frizz, and that hug. And, ladylike or not, that punch she delivered to Malfoy was the most brilliant thing he'd ever seen. He looked down into her chocolate eyes again. _Second most brilliant_, his mind corrected without consulting him.

"Ron," Hermione said as she broke through his thoughts. "The song's over."

"Just one more?" he asked before he could think about the tone in which he asked it.

She offered him another smile before nodding her head and holding one finger up towards Krum, who was standing on the edge of the dance floor. Ron turned in time to see Krum's sullen look and nod.

"What's gotten into you? You hate to dance."

"I do not," he denied. Then after a moment of contemplation, he said, "Okay. I do. Big deal. You wouldn't come with me so I have to take what I can get."

"If you had asked me earlier …" she began.

"I don't want to fight with you right now," he said, cutting her off and pulling her slightly closer. "I want to dance with you and laugh with you. So can we please forget that I failed to notice the extent of your gender for another two minutes?"

"Fine," she huffed. She really wasn't mad. She was in the arms of the man she'd truly wanted to be there with anyway. But Viktor had asked and she'd gotten tired of waiting for Ron to reach her level of "ugliness" and ask her himself.

"You really do look nice," he told her again.

"Thank you," she blushed. "I just thought maybe tonight I should be a different me."

"I don't think this is a different you. I think it's the same you in a dress. Which is different, I know, but it's still you," he told her as he moved her hand up to rest on his shoulders and allowed both of his to settle on her lower back. If he were honest with himself, he's say that he would have preferred to move his hands down a bit lower, pull her a bit tighter. _Speaking of tighter,_ he thought. _Better think about Great Aunt Tessie or something._

"You look good in those dress robes," she told him as she rested her head against his chest, both just swaying to the music and not really dancing.

"I look ridiculous."

"I like them."

_Maybe they're not so bad,_ he thought.

"I am coming back for Herm-own-ninny now," Viktor declared as the music ended and he approached. "Ve vill be seeing you later."

"By, Ron," Hermione smiled. "We'll come by and see you and Harry in a bit," she told him as the Weird Sisters were introduced and started playing. Viktor pulled her away and Ron could only stare at their retreating forms and think one thing:

_Ruddy pumpkinhead better keep his hands off my girl._


End file.
